Lock-nut



p 1, 1931. V A. DHAL-Lo-Y 1,820,965

LOCK NUT Filed Aug. 6, 1927 ATTORN EY -10 ing ring of Patented Sept. 1, 1931 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE AUDOIN' DHALLOY, OF PARIS, FRANCE, ASSIGTTOR TO INTERNATIONAL SAFETY LOCK 'NUT CORPORATION, OF NEW YORK, N. Y., A CORPORATION OF DELAWARE LOCK-NUT Application filed August 6, 1927, Serial No. 211,236, and in Trance February 9, 1927.

10 ional forces while still permitting the loosening of the joint at will without causing any deleterious deformation of the members which might tend to prevent the repeated association of such members in the intended manner.

More specifically there is provided in accordance with the invention resilient means adapted to cooperate with a resilient partor parts of the nut upon the latter being screwed home to hold threads of the nut against 20 threads ofthe bolt by a radial elastic stress of such a value and character that vibrational forces communicated to the assembly will not effect a loosening between the respective threads of the nutand bolt. I

The invention is hereinafter described and defined in the annexed claims and is illustrated diagrammatically in the accompanying drawings in which:

Figure 1 is a vertical sectionthrough the 30 nut and its cooperatingresilient ring.

Figure 2 is an elevationalview of the ring 4 as shown in Fig. 1.

F'gure 3 isa similar view of a nut and a ring of differcnt form.

Figure 4 illustrates the use of a bearing ring. i I

Figure 5 is an end-elevation of the bearing ring and its clamp.

Figure 6 is a partial plan view of the bear- Fig. 4.

In Figure 1 the nut 1.is shown as having an annular groove 2 which in this case is concentric with the bolt hole. The inner wall of the groove is substantially parallel to the lon- "itudinal axis of the nut, while the outer wall of the groove is at angle to such axis; this angle being such that the distance between the exterior of the nut and the groove gradually increases frdm the surface of the nut. Thus, the groove is wedge shaped, the smaller end being inside the nut. The centrally located sleeve like portion between the inner Wall of the groove and the bolt hole is rendered radially resilient by means of axially disposed grooves 3.

The ring or washer 4 is helicoidal in shape and is split, as shown by the break in its sur face continuity at 5. Figure 2 is an elevational view of the washer in which the helicoidal shape, is clearly seen. In this respect the washer resembles the so-called Grover (called Grower in the French language) washer or spring washer which is commonly used to exert an axial thrust on the nut face of the inner wall of the groove uniformly and over substantially its entire area with the exception of its upper part. The groove'is made somewhat deeper than the height of the washer which is to be permitted to penetrate in the body of the nut. The reason for this will appear from the description given hereinbelow of the operation of the parts as the nut is screwed home.

The surface of the washer which engages the part against which the nut is tightened may be roughened and is preferably such that it will rest uniformly thereon, and if such part is at an angle or not exactly level (as will appear from the descriptionof Figure 4 hereinafter) then the surface of the washer may be correspondingly designed. In Figure 1 it is assumed that the part is level and at right angles to the axis of the bolt so that the surface of the washer is made to fit the part in a uniform manner.

The outside diameter of the washer is preferably greater than the outside diameter of the groove although coming within the confines described by the outer surfaces. of the 1" ing area against the part upon which; it rests.

' Figure 3 illustrates the use of a washer of the arrangement is much similar As heretofore pointed out slightly different cross-section, but otherwise to that shown in Figure 1.

Figure 4 is illustrative of a modification wherein an auxiliary locking member is employed to hold tightly the part of the-washer which lies outside the nut. This auxiliary member is indicated by the reference 6 in the drawings and is preferablysplit and whose bearing face may be smooth or roughened. The member 6 has a conical seating 7, and it is against this seating that the washer 4 is ada ted to rest. In order to make a desirable sur ace contact, therefore, the surface of the washer 4 is fashioned so that when the assembly has been tightened i-t substantially uniformly engages the conical seating.

The auxiliary member 1s provided with extensions 8, about which a clamp 9 is adapted to be tightened. This tightening is effected after the nut has been screwed home. The

clamp or gripping member may beflprovided anges 11 Figure 1.shows thearrangement inits completely assembled form. after the nut has been screwed home.

As the washer-is normally in a helicoidal shape, it cannot be initially inserted into the groove to the extent that it will subsequently go under pressure. It can, if desired, however, be thrust into the groove'slightl and to an extent suflicient to enable a wor ran to put the nut and washer on the bolt just as though they'were in fact one piece. Owing to the relative shape of the groove andthe washer surfaces, the washer will, when undergoing tightening assume its correct position,

even thou h it may engage the groove unevenlyatt estart.

As the wrench is applied, the outer surface sion causes the washer to exert an axialthrust against the nut, as it always has the tendency ment.*

to revert to its normal helicoidal form.

The wedging now comes into play. The, nut in being forced down on the washer holds 2 I shown threads on thenut will closely on age threads on the bolt in substantially uni oi-m manner, and thus' greatly strengthen the 'j'ointto beyond the point which could be arrived at when arrangements ofthe prior art the washer tightly within its groove, and provides onl two directions of continuing movehe first of these is the axialdirection, made possible by the fact thatthe groove is designed deep enough so that-the washer cannot, even in. its extreme p'osition,'engage the bottomof the groove. .The secondireetion may aptly be termed a radial onesince it is t'owar the surfaces of the bolt threads. 3, v

.tightness. 'is too long or leverage means added to the normal length of the wrench to make it By visualizing the effect of continued pressure of the nut against the outer surface of the washer as it would take placein arriving at the assembly of Figure 1, it will be clear that the axial thrust is progressively partially transformed into a radial thrust which causes the inner wall of the washer to'close in on the inner Wall of the groove. fore the sleeve like portion of the nut between the grooveand the nut threads, which is resilient, tends 'to close in on the bolt threads. This action continues until, by reason of the relative shapes of the groove and washer surfaces, the nut hasreached the position which it should have in order to give the desired axial tightness; and at this timethe radial Gradually therestress has reached a value which will prevent the nut from being moved any further in the axial direction by the continued application of the force which is the correct one to be applied in a given case.

It might be mentioned here that for a given bolt and nut, in order to avoid inefiicient or excessive tightening, a wrench of [certain characteristics should be employed. If the wrench 'is too short then the required force cannot be exerted by the hands of the workman and the jolnt will not be of the required On the other hand,-if the wrench longer, thentoo much force is applied and stripping of the threads is likelyto take place.

In the arrangement provided by the present invention greater. leverage may be applied to the wrench than would be permissible in the case of ordinary nuts or nuts used with the ordinary Grover type of washer, for example, because of the added resistance to the turning of thc nut due to the inner radial thrust which is effected as described above. Thisis a very important advantage because it practically prevents the bolt from being elongated. The elongation of a bolt is an effect which cannot be remedied, unless a new bolt is provided, but. oftentimes the workman, inthe case of the ordinary type of nutarrangements heretofore used, does not realize that he has in fact elongated the bolt in the tighteningoperation and believes he has effected a tight joint.

Subsequently, when the assembly is subjected to vibrations, the weakened bolt gives way and damage results; As shown herein such damage is obviated by the use of the present invention.

It willibe clear that in the embodiment are employed. -Thethread's on commercial and with a given bolt, there may be more-or bolts and nuts are not always exactly true,

effected.

Furthermore, there is no particular need to use extreme care 111 fashioning the walls of the groove and those of the washer n1 orderto ensure'inter-chan eabilit of :arts. b

In other'words, ordinary commercial methods of manufacture in use today are quite sufficient to produce the desired groove and washer surfaces with complete assurance that they will cooperate effectually one with the other. The washer being of tempered mate- D rial for example such as is the case with the ordinary Grover washer, and the nut being of softer material, it will be clear that under the effect of the tightening action, the washer will fashion for itself a suitable and proper seating within the nut.

In a nut and bolt assembly wherein the ordinary Grover type of washer is used, one edge of the washer tends to dig into the,sur-

face of the part upon which it rests and another edge thereof tends to dig into the surface of the nut, when the assembly is sub ected to vibrational or other forces. Rotary tarded, but in such an arrangement the bolt is still free to move relative to the nut. One edge of the washer in Figure 1 will also tend to dig into the surface of the parton which it rests when subjected to similar forces and thus retards the rotary movement of the washer and. nut, but'in this case the bolt is not free to move under the effect of further vibrations as it is locked to the nut by radial forces as described above. In this case also another edge of the washer will tend to penetrate further into the roove by reason of the inherent axial elasticity of the washer and/or to dig a into the surface of the segments forming the sleeve-like portion of the nut.

' It will be clear from the drawings that should the washer become broken while in use, although the axial stress may become lessened, the radial stress is either not effected or'may be strengthened due to the increase in the number of indentations which will be made in the surface of the part on which the washer rests by the edges of the broken sections. Moreover, the broken sections will be held tightly in place in the annular groove.

In addition to the radial forces exerted over the area covered by the inner surface of the washer, there exists also a radial force, transmitter through the body of the nut from the engaging surface. or point on' the outer surface of the washer, which tends to cause the nut to grip tightly onto the bolt threads which lie toward the end surface of the nut away from that engaging the washer.

Referring to Figure 4, the action is much the same as has already been described in connection with Figure 1, but by reason of the provision of the auxiliary locking memher which is caused to be tightly clamped together after the nut has been screwed home, the radial force between the nut and bolt threads is greatly increased over that attain- An elastic joint attained by the employment of vibration absorbing means, is thus secured by the use of the present invention. In cases where the vibration to which the assembly is subjected, is considerable and of a continuing nature, there is likely to be some wear of the associated parts, for examplewhen ordinary iron is employed. The forces which are holding the tight oint, however, are clastlc 1n character and therefore will reconditions after the wear has taken place and prevent loosening between the parts'm that the higher terminal of the elastic ring has a tendency to provide a dead lock action in ,mo'vement of the washer and nuti-s thus reconjunction with a contiguous radial edge of the segments in the event that the higher free terminal of the elastic' ring has moved to register with a striation between the segments so that the radial edge of the higher terminal overlaps slightly a radial edge of a contiguous segment whereby any tendency of the nut to loosen is prevented. In other words to the wedging effect preceded there may be added the butting effect of the higher terminal of the elastic washer clamped in the groove of the screw against one of the radial edges of the segments and upon which are exerted radial forces contributing to prevent the nut from unlocking. Were the joint made by a rivet, or by means of a lock nut arrangement having insufficient or no elasticity, such as in the case of deformed thread joints, either produced after assembly or by the use of specially designed threads. it is clear that once wear has taken place the associated parts are ineffective to maintain the joint.

spond to readjust the assembly to the new give. But particularly the invention is of considerable value in cases where oints must be held tighly even when subject to vibrational forces of considerable magnitude, such asmight be encountered inmoving vehicles, railroad tracks and the like. I 1

While reference in the claims is made to a nut and to a bolt" it is recognized that the invention may be applied to arrangements wherein the parts carrying the threads may not physically correspond in all rcspects to the exact articles usually defined by such terms. The use of these terms inthe claims is for the sake ofclearness rather than by way of limitation.

xWhatIclaimisz 1. In a nut and bolt assembly a nut a plurality of shiftable sections thereon and a v resilient member, said nut and said member having engaging surfaces such that when the nut is screwed home the resilient member causes said shiftabl'e sections to exert a wcdging action and maintains the nut and finto part of a cavity in the nut and cothework in separated relation.

2 In a nut and bolt assembly, means for effecting through the intermediary of a split resilient member ,which is adapted to enteroperate with an internally threaded compressiblesleeve portion of the nut, a. radial and axial resilient thrust causing the screw threadsof .the sleeve portion to grip the screw threads of the bolt; 3. A device for maintaininga joint between a plurality of parts which comprises first, second and third members, the said-first member being provided with shiftable sections having screw threads a portion of which is adapted to be radially displaced upon being tightened when being screwed home against said third member upon said sec ondmember, said third member penetrating into said first member and being so fash-' ioned that it isboth axially and radially resilient to maintain thefirst member and the work in separated relation.

4. A locking device for bolts and the like comprising a nut having a' groove and slots forming one end with inner screwed segments and an outer surrounding wall and a split helicoidal resilient member adapted to engage the groove and to co-act with'the screwed segments. t

5. A- nut lock comprising at least a screw member, a lockingmember and an auxiliary locking member, the screw member having a threaded hole to engage a bolt and a compressible portion, the locking member being split and resilient and associated with the screw member. to .grip said compressible portion andtheauxiliary member being*adapited to grip said locking member;

6. A nut lock arrangement comprising a resilient split ring wedge-shaped in crosssection and adapted to co-operate with a resilient threaded sleeve portion of the nut in such manner that when the nut isscrewed home on abolt the said resilient threaded sleeve portion of the nut is forced radially on to the threads of the bolt so thatwhen the arrangement is subjected to vibration the resilient ring tends to absorb the vibrations while exerting pressure in the axial and radial directions'of the bolt. i

7. A nut and bolt assembly in which a split helicoidal member has a portion for exerting an inward radial force against a corresponding split portion of the nut to contract said split portion against the bolt.

8. A nut lock arrangement wherein a split resilient ring of substantially triangular p cross section is adaptedgtopo-operate with an annular groove in the nut of similar profile,

one wall of the groove being parallel to and concentric with the axis of the nut and formed by'a resilient threaded sleeve portion of the nut. i v

9. A nut lock arrangement comprising a ring'adapted to co-operate with an annular" groove in the nut of similar profile, the cross section of the ring being in theform of a right angled triangle with the vertical part in the interior and the hypothenuse on the outside, the vertical part co-operating with 95 the cylindrical inner wall of the groovewhich is resilient and the hypothenuse with the outer wall of the groove which is rigid whereby the ring is contracted to press the sleeve portion around a plurality of threads ofthe bolt.

10. Means for maintaining a nutand bolt assemblyin a condition to withstand the ef-' feet of vibrational forces which comprises 7 resilient vibrationabsorbing means which a n n D when the nut is in seated pos tion surrounds a resilient internally threaded sleeve ortion ofthe nut and exerts radial pressure t 1611011. 11. In a nut and bolt assembly wherein the nut has a resilient internally threaded sleeve portion, the outer-surface of which forms one wall of a groove, and asecond' surfaceinv chned'toward said outersurface forms the other wall of the groove, means for locking the nut to the bolt comprising an axially and radially resilient annular member positioned partly within the groove in spaced relation to the bottom thereof and in wedgmg engagement with both walls, said means mainta1n-.

in the nutin spaced relation to the work.

1 2. In combination, a nut having a plurahty of segments encompassing a belt,

a split elastic member engaging the seg-- ments and having at the split a locking edge, and means incuding the locking edge providing a dead lock between said bolt and- 1 nut, eliminating any tendency for unloos'en lock nut' arrangement a nut, a plurality of compressible sections,

thereon and a resilient helicoidal' washer, said washer being split and its higher and lower terminals exerting a retaining action by pressing into the compressible sections of the nut and the work to be secured respectively. 14. A look nut comprising at least a screw member, a locking member and an auxiliary locking member, the screw member having a threaded hole to engage a bolt and a plurality of compressible sections, the locking 1 member being split and resilient and associated with the screw member, and the auxiliary member being adapted to grip the looking member. v

15. A nut lock arrangement comprising a screw member having a threaded hole and a plurality of screw threaded compressible sections for engaging a bolt, a resilient split locking member adapted to surround and grip the compressible sections and an annular member adapted to grip the locking .member, the locking and annular members cooperating to lock the nutto the bolt in spaced relation to the work. p

16. A nut and bolt assembly in operative relation to a work piece comprising a nut having a split surface engaging the bolt, and a split helicoidal washer so positioned and associated with thenut and the work piece a that when the assembly is subjected to vibrational forces one free edge of the washer at the split tends to penetrate into the surface of the work piece with which it engages and another free edge at the split tends to penetrate further into a cavity in the nut provided for this purpose whilst the walls of the cavity are, so shaped as to resist such tendencyto penetrate.

Intestimony whereof I affix my signature.

0 AUDOIN nH ALLOY. 

